Noel Gallagher Recalls Drunken Night With Morrissey + Russell Brand

Chasing Yesterday, Noel Gallagher’s sophomore album with the High Flying Birds, will arrive March 2. According to Gallagher, the LP’s lead track, "Riverman," was inspired by a time he saw Morrissey playing Brian Protheroe’s "Pinball." The same night he saw Morrissey cover the song, Gallagher and Moz were joined by actor Russell Brand for a memorable night out in L.A., one the former Oasis guitarist says he “could write a book about.”

In an interview with the Quietus, Gallagher recalled warning Brand that he would have to call it a night around 2AM, to which Brand quipped, “‘Two o’clock? We’ll be out of here in 40 minutes! I can’t handle Morrissey for more than 40 minutes: He’s f---ing mental!’”

“Russell doesn’t drink so me and Morrissey were roaring drunk,” Gallagher added. “First thing, he got up and sort of shook my hand. I said, ‘Alright mate, how’re you doing?’ because I’ve met him at awards ceremonies, I've been on planes with him going to festivals. He’d just canceled all the gigs in South America because he had whatever it was. So I go, ‘I thought you just canceled a load of gigs, I thought you were at death’s door.’”

And in perfectly Morrissey fashion, the ex-Smiths singer replied, “Yet here I am.”

"I was saying to him, 'So, when you were with the Smiths, the melodies that you wrote … well, you had all these words, but your way with melody is quite unique, it's not the blues and it's not pop, so did you have all these songs before you met Johnny [Marr]?'” Gallagher recounted. “And he says, 'I did.’”

"And I was like, 'Did you?' He said, 'I had them on cassette,'” Gallagher continued. “And I said, 'But you can't play the guitar.' He said, 'No, no, but I had a little drum kit.' And I said, 'What, a drum kit?' and he said, 'Yes, yes, yes.' And I said, 'What did you have a drum kit for?' and he said, 'Well, not many people know this, but Rice Krispies once asked me to do a jingle for them.' So I said, 'Really? Did you do it?' and he said, 'No, no, no, I wouldn't play it.' Then he paused and leaned over, and said, 'I wouldn't wear the leather.'"

The notion of Morrissey helming any kind of jingle aside, we have to wonder just when Brand actually called it a night.